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Picture from Video of Gangster, Knife-wielding CrabPicture from Video of Gangster, Knife-wielding Crab

Analysis:

The interesting video that went viral online in February 2016 purported to show that a Crab held a Knife in its Claws and was trying to fend off a man trying to catch him! The Knife-wielding crab, supposedly discovered in Brazil, was termed as Gangster Crab and became a social media star soon. However, what is portrayed in the video is not a fact.

Picture from Video of Gangster, Knife-wielding Crab

Shown in the video is a Crab with a knife in its claw, trying to fend off an attacker or a would-be cook. Another similar video of Knife-wielding crab caught fire online last month in Jan 2016. Once these became popular online, especially on social media sites, there were also speculations suggesting that this could be the signs of Crustacean (group of arthropods, to which Crabs belong) uprising, which can perhaps pose a threat to human race. The fact of the matter has got nothing related to these claims.

General curator for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Jack Cover explained to The Washington Post website washingtonpost.com that the Knife-wielding ‘Gangster Crab’ in question is actually “absolutely distressed”. It appeared to him that the knife’s handle was jammed into the crab’s claw, and it was either unable to let go of it, or is instinctively clamping down on the weapon. Jack Cover added that what is seen in the video is the normal behavior of a Crab, and it would be swinging around even if the knife wasn’t there. It is possible that someone has put (or stuck) the Knife inside the Crab’s claw and shot the video. So the claims that the ‘Gangster’ Knife-wielding crab was trying to fight with the man are plain hoaxes.

People should realize that troubling animals for capturing selfie photos or ‘catchy’ videos like this is no fun. Not only for the animals, it can also become dangerous to the people sometimes.